(NewsUSA) – Stuff happens. We all have it. Too much of it in fact, if you believe the late George Carlin.

It starts slowly (at first), but over time seems to manifest into unmanageable (and sometimes unfathomable) piles to the point that you need more than good friends, a pick-up truck and a free weekend.

Enter 1-800-GOT-JUNK?. The Vancouver-based franchise success story has built its 22-year reputation on not only giving people their space back, but doing so in such a way that the carbon footprint left on Mother Earth is light — an important point for folks who need the room but not the guilt.

“At 1-800-GOT-JUNK? we’ve found that many customers assume their junk will wind up in the landfill, which is not always the case at all,” said Brian Scudamore, founder and chief executive officer.

In fact, Scudamore prides himself on the fact that more than 60 percent of customers’ junk doesn’t see the light of the local dump, but rather gets diverted to recycling centers, second-hand stores and charitable organizations, such as the Salvation Army, Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity that will hand-sort the junk for resell. There are even some places where the junk is converted into renewable energy sources. Scudamore hopes to raise this percentage to 75 percent by 2014.

“We’ve really stepped up our focus on environmental sustainability in response to the demands of our customers,” said Scudamore. “For every job we do, we have the tracking and reporting tools to share with customers exactly what we collect and how we dispose of it,” he added.

To make people feel good about where their “stuff” is going, Scudamore uses an in-field Environmental Tracking System that allows franchise partners to educate the customer about what happens to their junk once it’s taken away.

“Junk removal is a competitive business, and in order to maintain our advantage, we have to implement environmental best practices, then continue to raise the bar,” he said.